New travel cost calculator assists motorists

Bayswater Car Rentals has launched the Fuel & Trip Calculator to help users budget petrol costs and travel time. It is available on the Bayswater website for use by anyone, not just customers of the company.

CEO Arnold Kluck said Bayswater Car Rentals was established to cater to the budget conscious when it comes to hiring a car and that customer feedback was the impetus for development of the calculator, particularly the requirement to fill up at the end of the car rental period.

“People often forget to factor this into their travel plans. If you are not watching your dollars, it is easy to get caught out,” he said.

Kluck said the calculator uses the government rating for fuel efficiency for the cars in the Bayswater Car Rental fleet of Toyotas. “Users can enter the exact amount petrol costs at the time, select from our range of cars and then nominate their starting and finish point — and the calculator works out how much petrol will cost,” he said.

“We offer it to our own customers as a way for them to estimate their fuel costs. But we also offer it to anyone who wants to estimate the fuel cost of a trip; all they need to do is input their own car’s fuel consumption.”

The calculator also tells the traveller how far it is door to door and how long it will take to get there — allowing drivers to plan stops to rest at.

Kluck said because petrol prices differ from state to state, the driver can overestimate the price. “From one state to another, even suburb to suburb, there can be a big difference in price. If you use the most expensive price, you will not be surprised,” he said.

For those who are not sure how they want to travel, using the calculator is a handy tool to help compare the cost of different modes including flying, driving, bus and train.